Art of planographic printing.



No. 758,108; PATENTED APR,,26, 1 904;

R. J. SAGHERS.

ART OF PLANOGRAPH-IG PRINTING.

srmmmrs.

No. 758,108. Patented. April 26, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH JULIAN SAQHER-S, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORBY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO JEAN A. WETMORE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ART OF PLANOGRAPHIC PRINTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 758,108, dated April 26,1904.

Application filed February 23, 1897. Serial No. 624,624. (Specimens) T all 107mm it y COW/067%! single design. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudi- Beit known that LRALPH JULIAN SAoHERs, nalsection of the same. Figs. 3 and lare per- 5 a citizen of the United States, and a resident spective side'views of modifications. of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, The thickness of the surface layers, Which 5 county, andState of New York, have invented in practice is microscopically small, is eXagcertain new and useful Improvements in the gerated in order to show the same more dis- Art of Planographic Printing, of which the tinctly. following is a full, clear, and exact spec'ifiea- In the practice of my invention I clean the "tion. I surface of an aluminium plate A or alumini- Io In my Patent No. 518,826, dated April 24, um-coated plate E or of an aluminium cylin- 1894:, I claim a process of manufacturing comder or aluminium-coated cylinder F- in any pound printing-surfaces consisting of a softconvenient manner and provide the same by metal foundation and a surface layer of other electrodeposition with one or more thin layers metals on the face of the parts in relief. B B of other metals or alloys. I think-cop- I 5 My present invention relates to an improveper deposited by the electric current the best ment upon and an adaptation of my said patmode which I know of for doing this; but

ented process. I there are other modes which I consider fully 6 5 It consists in the use of aluminium or alnprotected by my claims. minium-coated metalas the foundation or base, Aluminium may be coated electrolytically 5 with copper, nickehstel, or any other-metal with an alloyfor instance, German silver, or alloy as a surface layer on the face of the formed of copper, nickel, and zinc by using ink-retaining-parts and the adaptation of this a German-silver anode and preparing the eleccompound printing-surface tothe cylinder ofa trolyte by dissolving German silver of the rotary or'web press. same composition as the anode in nitric acid,

25 The successive steps of my improved procadding to it a solution of carbonate of potash, ess of making surfaces for printing processes a strong solution of cyanid of potash, and are as follows: first, providing commercial some liquid ammonia. aluminium or .aluminium coated metal with I produce the desired picture or designC G one or more layers of other metals or alloys; upon the surface layer as a direct drawing or 3 second, producing the picture or design upon by means-of a transfer print or reprint from said surface layer; third, etching the uncova lithographic stone or other planographic ered parts of the surface layer until they are surface or by a photolithographic print or diremoved, and thereby the aluminium founda: -rect photographic process. This picture or tion exposed; fourth, treating said exposed design G C is made acid-proof by dusting on 3 5 portions of the aluminium base, so as to repel and melting in finely-powdered resin, whereprintingink. after I submit this plate or this cylinder to The adaptation of my invention to a rotary an etching process by placing the same at the 8 5 or Web press consists in the construction of a anode terminal of an electroetchingbath.

printing-cylinder the surface portion of which This etching process is interrupted as soon as t is produced in substantially the same manner the surface layer or layers B B of the poras hereinabove described. tions D D which are not covered by the pic- The drawings which accompany this present ture C C are etched away. Then I wash the 9 application and form a part thereof illustrate plate or cylinder very thoroughly with water the different steps of my improved process, and clean and dry the same. I now wipe off 15 whereon similar letters of reference indicate the acid-proof picture C C by the use of'turcorresponding parts. pentine, benzene, 8:10., and the picture will ap- Figure l is a top View of asurface illustratpear as a delicate copper or other metal facing the various stages in the preparation of a ing B B on the silver-White surface D D of the aluminium foundation. In order to make this picture B-B printable on the printingpress, I treat the exposed parts D D of the aluminium foundation in such a way as to more fully absorb water and repel printingink. I obtain this result by means of solutions non-corrosive relatively to aluminium. For instance, a solution of about ten to fifteen per cent. of gallic acid or about five to ten per cent. tannic acid, &c., and five to ten per cent. of gum-arabic not acidulated by means of nitric acid have been .found to give good results. Gallic and tannic acid in connection with gum-arabic are some of the strongest media to prevent the aluminium surface from absorbing greasy or .fatty substances,the gumarabic thereby forming a very thin coating, which entirely prevents the retaining of the printing-ink on these portions of the surface. The main characteristic of these non-corrosives is that they do not disintegrate the aluminium surface and do not form upon the same a precipitate of aluminium salt adhering to the plate. The plate or cylinder is now finished and has all the necessary qualities of a planographic-printing surface-*2. 0., its ink-retaining and ink-repelling parts are practically in the same plane. It forms a perfect substitute for the lithographic stone.

I am aware that heretofore aluminium has been used for printing purposes and that attempts have been made to adapt planographic printing to the rotary printing-machine, and I do not broadly claim this, but only the combination and process as substantially hereinbefore described, and set forth in my claims.

In my process any commercial impure aluminium or any aluminium-coated metal may be used, and by the selection of appropriate surface layers a superior result may be obtained at much smaller expense than heretofore, whereby the adaptation of my process to the printing on a rotary or web press gives a really incalculable advantage over all the known planographic-printing methods.

What I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of producing printing-plates for printing purposes which consists of the following steps: first, coating aluminium with one or more surface layers of other metal or alloy; second, placing the design on the face of said surface layer; third, removing the surface layer at all points not covered by the design; fourth, treating the now exposed portions of aluminium in order to repel printers ink with a non-corrosive.

2. The process of producing printing-plates for printing purposes which consists of the following steps: first, coating a base-plate with a surface layer of aluminium; second, coating this aluminium surface with one or more layers of other metal or alloy; third, placing a design on said metallic layer; fourth, removing said metallic layer at all points not covered by the design; fifth, treating the now exposed portions of aluminium in order to repel printers ink with a non-corrosive.

3. The process of producing printing-plates for printing purposes which consists of the following steps: first, coating electrolytically aluminium with one or more surface layers of other metal or alloy; second, producing a design on the face of said surface layer; third, removing electrolytically said surface layer at all points not covered by the design; fourth, treating the now exposed portions of aluminium with a non-corrosive so as to repel printers ink.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

RALPH JULIAN SACHERS.

WVitnesses:

P. FRANCIS DELEHANTY, ROBERT (J. ONEIL. 

